August 27, 1990: The day Stevie Ray Vaughan died

GW recounts SRV's final show, and what led to the blues guitar legend's tragic death

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(Image credit: Paul Natkin/Getty Images)

Stevie Ray Vaughan was 35 when he died in a helicopter crash outside East Troy, Wisconsin, August 27, 1990.

The previous day, Vaughan had relayed to his bandmates a disturbing dream he had where he witnessed his own funeral. That evening, the guitarist, with his band Double Trouble, joined as special guests for a concert at the Alpine Valley Musical Theater, along with Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and Vaughan’s big brother, Jimmie.

After the show, four helicopters, owned and operated by Omniflight Helicopters Inc., were reserved to fly the artists and their crews back to Chicago. One helicopter was reserved for Stevie, Jimmie and Jimmie's wife Connie. Members of Clapton’s crew, however, had already taken seats on the helicopter when the Vaughans arrived to board.

Eager to return to Chicago, Stevie asked Jimmie and Connie for the last seat. With dense fog settling in, the helicopters began departing at 1 a.m. Jeff Brown, the pilot of Vaughan’s helicopter, banked sharply to the left about a half-mile after take off. The helicopter collided into a ski slope; everyone on board was killed instantly. Reports of the accident didn't begin surfacing until the morning when the helicopter failed to reach its destination of Meigs Field in Chicago. Double Trouble members Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton began thinking the worst when Vaughan’s hotel room in Chicago was found empty. Shortly after 7 a.m. Jimmie was called to identify his brother’s body.

That afternoon, radio and television broadcasts confirmed Vaughan had died aboard the ill-fated helicopter. Fans sought refuge at Zilker Park in Austin, Texas, to mourn the city’s favorite son. Many expressed the tragic senselessness of Vaughan’s death in light of his recovery from a public battle with drugs and alcohol a few years prior. Stevie Ray Vaughan was buried at Laurel Land Memorial Park in Dallas, Texas. More than 1,500 people, including Jimmie and fellow musicians Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, Dr. John, Buddy Guy and Jackson Browne, among others, attended the funeral. A Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Statue was dedicated at Auditorium Shores on Lady Bird Lake, where Vaughan played a number of shows throughout his career. The cause of the helicopter accident was attributed to pilot negligence.

Jeff Brown, a veteran airplane pilot, had little experience operating a helicopter in inclement weather. In 1995 Jimmie and his mother Martha Vaughan sued Omniflight for negligence. The family was awarded an undisclosed sum.

Below, you'll find some audio from Vaughan's final show. Amazingly, the person who posted the clip actually spelled "Jimmie" and "Vaughan" correctly. That never happens.